Religion and Disability Studies Unit

The Religion and Disability Studies Unit invites proposals that critically examine the relationship between disability and religious thought, practice, or history. We welcome papers on all topics, yet with particular interest in non-Christian perspectives and underrepresented cultural locations.

In alignment with the presidential theme of future/s, we especially welcome proposals that discuss:

• Crip ancestries and their implications for future/s, including religious and theological engagements with the work of Alice Wong and/or Leah Laksmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
• Critical engagements with religious and theological scholarship that account for processes of aging and acquired disability in looking toward the future/s
• How disabled perspectives critique, enliven, and expand religious and theological accounts of future/s marked by transhumanism and/or human relationships with non-human creatures and objects
• Critical engagement and constructive reflection that foster dialogue two significant, recent volumes from Baylor University Press’s Studies in Religion, Theology, and Disability Series—Melody V. Escobar’s Revelations of Divine Care and Phil Letizia’s Held in the Love of God (both 2024). Preference will be given to proposals that examine how these texts offer a transformative vision of discipleship emerging from an ethic of love and the theology of care.

For a possible co-sponsorship with the Mysticism Unit:

This co-sponsored session invites proposals reflecting on the intersection/s of vulnerability and mysticism through lenses of disability, race, gender, sexual orientation, and other forms of social marginalization. Mystics have traditionally sought out mystical states not for the experiences in and of themselves, but for the knowledge of reality gained from these experiences. In response, mystics embody transformation, seeking to live a life aligned with knowledge encountered in a mystical state. Popular perceptions of mystical knowledge often correlate such states with power and efficacy. But paradoxically, accounts of mystical experiences often also entail a state of openness, vulnerability, and interdependence. While unsettling, this vulnerability can transform understandings of openness and interdependence as positions of personal strength. For example, reflection on one’s vulnerability may be a part of a mystical encounter, especially where one is known by a power greater than oneself. Likewise, mystical states where one has a loss of a sense of self may result in ongoing vulnerabilities after the experience. 

For a co-sponsorship with the Ecclesial Practices Unit:

This session will address disability-informed approaches to the practice and/or research of religious practice, including prayer and worship, as they inform disabled future/s and/or serve as sites that collapse past/present/future/s. 
Note: This is a closed session and neither units will be accepting proposals for it.